Wax grain

In the High Middle Ages, wax grain was a special tax that some farmers in a region had to pay to the owner of the castle that formed the center of power in the area.

Originally, the farmers were obliged to keep watch at the castle themselves. This service was later converted into a payment in kind, the wax grain . This change was beneficial for both the farmers and the lord of the castle. They no longer had to come to the distant castle so often and could instead take care of their economy, the latter could employ pay servants as guards and compensate their services at least partially with the wax grain.

Until the 16th century had, for example, some farmers from around Bautzen wax grain to the bailiff to deliver, the Ortenburg , the only stronghold of the Oberlausitz managed in landesherrlichem possession. Little by little the bailiffs allowed the farmers to buy themselves out of this obligation.

literature

• Hermann Knothe : Documentary basis for a legal history of Upper Lusatia. From the earliest times to the middle of the 16th century . In: New Lusatian Magazine . Volume 53, 1877, pp. 162-419 ( digitized version ).